Steps are being taken to form an Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO)
to collectively administer the educational licensing of the digital
intellectual property of major North American art museums for the mutual
benefit of museums and educational institutions. During February and
early March, 77 representatives of 37 museums whose directors are members
of the (160+ member) Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), held
online discussions and a face-to-face meeting toward this end.

The online discussion, hosted by the Art Museum Network, (www.amn.org)
AAMD's Internet site, was moderated by Jennifer Trant and David Bearman
of Archives & Museum Informatics who have been retained by the Art Museum
Network, on behalf of the AAMD, to manage the evolution of AMICO. On
March 20, approximately 50 representatives of the 37 museums met to
review three agreements drafted by Archives & Museum Informatics based
on their experience with the Museum Site Licensing Project (MESL) and
similar initiatives, and on advice received from Christine Steiner (Secretary
and General Counsel of the J. Paul Getty Trust) and Mary Levering (Associate
Director, U.S. Copyright Office) who provided informal assistance and
review. The March 20 meeting was facilitated by Bearman and Trant with
the assistance of David Green, Executive Director of the National Initiative
for Networked Cultural Heritage and Jeremy Rees, Director of the International
Visual Arts Information Network. On the table were:

An Agreement to Form a Collective for Administration of Intellectual
Property Rights

A License Agreement for University Educational Use of Museum Digital
Content

A Business Case and Business Planning Framework

Deliberations of the attendees, although non-binding, led to an agreement
in principle to form a collective for licensing the digital contents
of museums for educational use. Attendees further agreed to publicly
introduce the draft university license agreement at the Coalition for
Networked Information (CNI) meeting in Washington in April, to continue
their discussion of the terms of the other agreements over the next
two months, and to charge Archives & Museum Informatics with drafting
a fourth agreement on data standards to support the interchange of the
full range of licensable content.

Over the next two months, potential members of the new consortium
from within AAMD's membership will continue to use the online forum
to discuss further terms of the consortial agreement and issues arising
from the business case which there was not time to discuss on March
20. Representatives will come together for another face-to-face meeting
June 2-3 and report to directors assembled at the AAMD's annual meeting
on June 4. It is anticipated that AMICO will be incorporated soon thereafter
and will be in a position to license its first products for use in the
1998/99 academic year.

AMICO wants its efforts to be open and seeks the involvement of the
educational community. The Getty Information Institute sponsored a briefing
for not-for-profit organizations on the outcomes of the March 20 meeting
on March 21. Representatives of the Art Libraries Association of North
America (ARLIS/NA), Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), Copyright
Clearance Center (CCC), Getty Institute for Education and the Arts,
Getty Information Institute, Museum Educational Site Licensing Project
(MESL) Research Libraries Group (RLG), Visual Resources Association
(VRA), and others attended.

A briefing to be held on April 1, 1997 at the Coalition for Networked
Information Meeting will address the draft university license agreement,
which we believe takes into account most concerns expressed by universities
in licensing digital data. Clauses in this agreement include, in addition
to basic purpose and goals and definition of the parties:

Grant of a non-transferable license for educational use

License period, of one year

Assurances of Continuity of Access, including in the event of failure
of the consortium

Terms of Termination

Definitions of authorized users and those specifically not allowed
under this license

Format of delivery and means by which the University can acquire
the licensed content

Terms governing the University Delivery of the AMICO Library to
its users